Mayweather vs. Alvarez: The One – But Is It, Really?
Is “The One†referring to Saul Alvarez being “The One†to take Floyd Mayweather’s crown? Or is it “The One†to watch? “The One†not to miss? I am sure Mayweather is seeing it as “The One†to surpass any amount of money he has ever earned in one night.
Saul Alvarez, or “Canelo†as you will frequently hear him being called, which simply means ‘ cinnamon’, is a tenacious young fighter from Mexico who’s record is impressive at 42-0-1 with 30 KO’s.
He has good Mexican fighting pedigree, he moves very well and he can punch with a 70% KO ratio. Furthermore, amongst his tools are aggression and accuracy, complete with the fact that this kid is big at the weight, very big, he bulks up a great deal after the weigh in, and he makes for a formidable adversary.
Those are the pros.
These are the cons.
That youthful vitality may be good for the engine and the heart, but it is bad for the control room…i.e the brain. He hasn’t dealt with anyone near the level of Mayweather before.
That’s it, that’s the con. Saul Alvarez is a great fighter; it’s just that he’s fighting Floyd Mayweather.
The explosive aggression that Alvarez possesses will be put to use in the first few rounds, especially with the noise that will be coming out of the pro-Mexican crowd, whose hopes sit on Alvarez’s shoulders, every time he unloads a barrage of punches…but it’s not even just the Mexicans, it’s everyone.
Unless you are a hard-core boxing fan who loves to see an operator of the sweet science performed to an elite standard…even then a little bit of you must want to see Mayweather get beat.
Once those initial rounds have passed and most of Alvarez’s work has been caught on Mayweather’s shoulders, or he has found himself out of range, and slowly but steadily he finds himself being countered by Floyd and then out of range when he tries to counter the counter.
So using his size, Alvarez decides to stand and trade in range and finds himself being outhustled by the defensive genius there as well. Unable to effectively hit Mayweather and unable to stop anything coming his way…what then?
That is how Mayweather plays his game; that is how he wins. He has faced people bigger than him with better KO ratios than him, he has faced young undefeated stars, he has also faced older, more ring crafty, experienced guys who still could not stop him doing what he does best.
To assume that Alvarez, for all of his Mexican machismo and power, can do what people like Oscar De La Hoya, Miguel Cotto, Ricky Hatton, Shane Mosley, Robert Guerrero, Victor Ortiz, Jose Luis Castillo and Diego Corrales couldn’t do, would be foolish.
In that short list of names that Mayweather has beaten, you have the undefeated in Hatton and Corrales, the Mexican machismo inside fighting of Castillo and brawling of Ortiz, the old and the bold in De La Hoya, Cotto and Mosley.
Mosley got through with some good punches, which inadvertently woke up the tiger in Floyd, who then beat Mosley up for 10 rounds, and De La Hoya put it on Floyd early, was doing well, but ultimately couldn’t maintain it…same story with Zab Judah.
I genuinely like Alvarez as a fighter, he’s great to watch but he is not ready for Mayweather. His hardest test has been Austin Trout, who is a good fighter but not at Mayweather’s level. Alvarez panicked when he was cut against Mosley, which proved his inexperience, and that was only three fights ago, that says a great deal.
Nearly all the fighters to have come out the other side of Mayweather recognizes that once you are in there with him and he starts to control the pace…it’s game over.
With this being a catch weight, whatever camp that came from, Canelo will still walk into that ring Saturday night 7-8 pounds heavier than Mayweather, maybe more, I just don’t think it will do him any good.
It will be the Mayweather show from the fifth round onward, sailing off to a unanimous points decision.
Personally, I think I am more intrigued by Danny Garcia vs Lucas Matthysse on the undercard, which should produce some real fireworks.
R.I.P. Dean Powell.